At the Dietrich by Hildy Morgan
It is a blissfully rainy day, chilly and autumnal, even though it is the first of June. I love a day like this, a day that breaks up the heat and endless sunshine of summer and lets us put on something cozy and soft and bake some bread and make a pot of soup. It’s a day to watch a bad movie on the telly or read a book or just reflect about life in general. And you don’t have to feel a whit of guilt because you aren’t outside weeding the endlessly growing garden.
So I told the hubby that I would make a lovely pot of cream of cauliflower soup and he had to make a loaf of bread. Well, I hope it’s a lovely pot of soup. I’ve never made it before, so I have to knock on wood and cross my fingers. On the other hand, unless you add a cup of dirt, there is no such thing as bad homemade soup. It’s always good. That’s just a fact of life.
Okay, so I went to the most amazing event yesterday and I really want to tell you all about it. It was so incredible, showed the oft- times not-so-hot-human race in the finest light – and it was just, simply, awesome!
So, first I have to give you a tiny bit of background. My husband and I have dear friends who are our neighbors – Ed and Amber Zygmunt. She is the woman with the most beautiful garden in the world, a lover of bees and butterflies, a woman with so much heart and soul that you know the world was simply better off the day she was born. And Ed spends most of his life fighting to make the world an environmentally safer and better place. He wants to make sure that the grandchildren and great grandchildren and on and on will have the birds and the butterflies and the flowers and the bees to admire , to pollinate, to keep this planet teeming with life.
They have a granddaughter – Montana Cole, daughter of Betsy and Art Cole, sister of Holden Cole, niece of Rebecca and Joe Lesco. She is a beautiful;, beautiful eighteen year old girl, great student, gorgeous smile, martial arts teacher, athletic and looks like a typically healthy south auburn farm girl. Except she’s not.
A few years ago, Montana got Lyme disease. The medical community says it can be bad but it lasts about two weeks and is gone. Or something. So, I don’t know what the medical explanation is, but Montana just got sicker and sicker. As so many with Lyme disease do. To Drs. And hospitals and insurance companies who deny its existence, I say – wake up, ladies and gents – it’s real and it’s devastating.
Because medical science says it’s not real, there is no insurance to cover it. Yup. None. Diddly squat. Montana doctored and doctored. But in the end, it seems as if there is nothing to be done. And a few weeks ago, at Kevin Robinson’s martial arts studio, Montana suddenly couldn’t feel her legs, her feet. She crumbled to the floor. She was sent to Philadelphia by ambulance and, after a week or so of testing, she was sent to Allied. Still, no feeling from the waist down. This strong, athletic girl was now wheelchair bound.
There was a clinic in Kansas, they were told. Expensive but seems to help. Montana and her mother went there. In two weeks she had a little feeling in one foot. She came home. They had recommended that Montana go to a clinic in Texas where they have very good results. But farmers aren’t made of money. They’re hardworking, thrifty folks, but these medical bills were catastrophic! They were running out of options for their precious girl.
And so, yesterday, on a gorgeous sunny day, there was a fundraiser for the family at the American Legion in Black Walnut. And that is what I wanted to tell you about. Thousands of people came. Every farm family in the area was there. People who were neighbors and relatives and friends. Probably a hundred baskets had been donated to raffle. Auction items were spectacular and brought thousands of dollars apiece. People talked and joked and laughed and spent money – this child could have been their child – in a sense she was – and they came like the cavalry in old westerns. Their generosity was amazing! It was the most inspiring afternoon. Just watching the love that poured out for this beautiful young woman brought her dad, and many of the rest of us, to tears. I have never seen anything like it.
And this I know. We all hope and pray that this miserable disease will loosen it’s grip on Montana, she doesn’t deserve it – no child does. But oh, my, my. She has been given such a gift. One to remember for all her life. She received overwhelming love – it poured out on a river of joy and generosity. The community came together and took care of one of their own. It was something. It really, really was!
See you at the Dietrich.
